


Cleopatra

by Mynaneistrash



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Not Chat Noir, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Because her not being able to speak chinese really pissed me off, Bilingual Character(s), Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Chameleon Salt, Character Bashing, Confident Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Cuz she does so much for everyone and they all drop her for the newest shiny thing, F/M, Felinette discord you know who you are, Fix-It, Fluff, General season 3 salt, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I blame The felinette discord for encouraging me to write this, I decided that I was not gonna put Marinette through everything again, Lila salt, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is Over Adrien Agreste, Marinette is Bilingual, Marinette transfers schools, Not Canon Compliant, Salt, So this time around she is just not gonna deal with that, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 22:31:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mynaneistrash/pseuds/Mynaneistrash
Summary: At the ripe age of 24, Marinette's life seems to have stagnated. She has no friends, no life outside of work, and has lost her close relationship with her parents. All she has left is her passion in design.But when even that reminds her of the things she lost in Lycee, she feels nothing left but the aching urge to go back and relive her childhood.She wasn't exactly expecting to wake up in the body of her thirteen year old self, but hey, she's used to dealing with magical bullshit by now.





	Cleopatra

Marinette sat by her desk, discarded designs littered around her. Lately, everything she had been making had been related to her teen years. Costume redesigns, Ladybug themed dresses, even some _Akuma_ based ones. It was almost like her past was haunting her, and Marinette hated it.

She was almost twenty-five now, why was it that her teen exploits were following her now. She was over it. Over being a superhero, (though she missed flying through the air, her late night talks with Tikki, lying down across the top of the Eiffel Tower) over her old friends, (in hindsight she should have seen her and Alya falling out sooner. Boundaries caused friction, and friction bred resentment. It wasn't healthy) and definitely over him. So why was it that she couldn't escape them.

Why couldn't she get rid of the lingering regrets, the anger, the sadness. Why did it feel like she was late for everything.

A life filled with regrets makes one feel like that.

She scribbled out the piece she had been drawing, bitter tears filling her eyes. It was almost as though she couldn't let go, no matter how much she wanted to.

**_She wanted her childhood back._ **

She slumped her head on her desk, closing her eyes. Maybe a nap would do her some good.

* * *

“ _Léi lei_ , wake up,” A familiar voice called out. Her mother? Marinette opened her eyes, looking at her surroundings in confusion, surprised to find herself in a bed. This was her old room.

The pink walls, full of Gabriel Agreste designs. Pictures of her and her parents littering her computer desk. This is what it had looked like before she had met Adrien, and developed that borderline obsessive crush. Before she had made friends to have pictures with, and most importantly, before she had her miraculous.

“Marinette, I know it's still summer time, but if you want to be on time for school next week, then you have to start waking up early.” This time it was her father.

She blinked again groggily, sitting up. _What the Hell is going on?_

She got off her bed, walking down the stairs that lead to the rest of her bedroom, confirming her thoughts. There wasn't even a picture of the family trip to China, which they had taken right after Hawkmoth’s defeat. She must have been in the past. But how did this even happen?

“Coming Maman,” She called out hastily, rushing forward, only to trip on her own feet.

God she had forgotten what it was like to be this short. She walked slower in an attempt to trip less, but that only helped a little. She was still fumbling over her own feet every two steps. (But it was better than falling all the time)

She eventually made it downstairs, and seeing her parents as young as they were threw her off. Sure she _figured_ she was in the past, but seeing her parents not have greying hair was really different.

“Morning,” She mumbled, looking down.

“Good Morning _Léi lei_ ,” Her mother replied, smiling at her from the table.

“Morning Sweetheart,” Her father said, glancing up from the stove. (Her mother must have asked him make breakfast. He was normally on dinner duty)

“Do I have a shift this morning?” She asked, pulling out a seat at the dinner table. (The familiar creak of the floorboards pulled at her heartstrings. When was the last time she had visited her parents)

“Marinette,” Her father said, playfully scolding her, “no talking about work at the dinner table,”

Marinette snorted. “Is it really the dinner table if we’re eating breakfast.”

Her father sputtered, unable to answer, and her mother laughed. “Answer the question Tom,” She taunted, smiling.

(Marinette had missed this. Teasing her father with her mother.)

Her father only looked at her mother helplessly. “Sabine,” He whined, “Don't take her side.”

Her mother laughed in his face, turning to Marinette to whisper in her ear in Chinese.

“ _He is like a child, easy to confuse_.” Sabine’s grey eyes were filled with mirth as she stared at her husband, who could only pout.

“ _Why did you marry him then?”_ Marinette asked, giggling. Her mother could only shake her head, putting her hand on her chin to think.

“ _He is a good cook,”_

Marinette dissolved into a mess of laughter, the unease and nostalgia that had come with her return to the past slowly easing out of her. She took a few moments to stop laughing, and looked up at her father.

“But do I have a morning shift?” She asked again.

Her father shook his head, smiling. “No, your shift starts at one. Why is it so important?”

“I found this place that apparently gives out great massages, and does stress management. I wanted to check it out,” Marinette answered with ease, (the words weren't necessarily lies, but it still hurt being unable to tell her parents the whole truth)

Her parents nodded. “How much does it cost?” Her mother asked her, “Will your allowance cover it or should we give you extra?”

Marinette shook her head, “First time is half off,” she said. (Lies got easier to say as the years went on, but they were never easier to stomach. Her excuses got better, at the very least.)

Her parents, who knew how bad she was at lying, took her words at face value. “Alright, just be home for lunch .”

Marinette nodded, and like that their conversation flew to another topic. Breakfast passed as it normally did, banter with the family coming off so normal.

She had forgotten what it was like to be a _kid_. She had taken her job as Ladybug so seriously, combined with being unable to express negative emotions without risk of akumatization, and always being pressured to take the high road, had caused her to try and grow up early.

But this time around, she was gonna be a kid, and no one could stop her. She was going to enjoy her second chance at life. She won't throw away her childhood.

* * *

After breakfast was over, Marinette was quick to make herself scarce. She needed to see Tikki, and talk to Master Fu. Because there was no way that her coming back to the past wasn't magical bullshit. (not that she wanted to go back to her original time, she just wanted to know _how_ she went back in time.)

Her walk to Fu’s shop was uneventful for the most part, barring the intense sense of both nostalgia and loathing that came about when she passed by Collège Françoise Dupont. (Was it self loathing, or did she hate everything that happened at that school. She didn't want to sort through her complicated feelings for the place)

When she reached Master Fu’s door, she hesitated. _What if he didn't believe her? What if Tikki couldn't remember her? What if she was going crazy, and she never actually lived through twenty four years of her life?_

The anxiety almost made her turn around, but she steeled herself. She was not going to be passive and just _let_ life run its course the exact same way it had last time. She was going to at least try and make a difference. Try to change things for the better.

She opened the door to the shop, plastering a smile on her face.

“Welcome, Miss…” His voice trails off as he looks at her in confusion.

“Who are you?” He asks, brow furrowed.

Her smile falters, but she manages to sound cheerful. “My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and I am the previous holder of the Ladybug Miraculous.”

He blinks, giving her another once over, and she shifts on her feet, suddenly remembering every insecurity she had as a thirteen year old.

He looks both confused and suspicious as he lets her in. Once he closes the door, hw talks.

“For the past hundred years, I have been guarding the miraculous box, and not once have I released it to be used. Especially not to one so young,”

She stiffened, thinking he was dismissing her. She opened her mouth to say something, but he pressed on, ignoring her.

“I would call you a liar, but the energy in your soul cannot lie. A compatible soul, touched by creation itself. The Mark of Red cannot be faked.”

She sagged in relief, a genuine smile making it's way onto her face. “Thank you for believing me, Master Fu,”

Fu shook his head with a smile. “The proof is in front of me, how could I not believe. However, there is much to explain,”

She nodded, her blue eyes looking at him seriously. “This may sound crazy, but I'm from the future.”

He gave her a look of disbelief, (which aggravated her to no end because he _just_ said he believed her) but she waved her hand to dismiss whatever he was about to say.

“I had been Ladybug for about three years, and we defeated Hawkmoth.” he gave her a curious look when she said Hawkmoth, and she had to remind herself that Hawkmoth had not made himself a known threat yet. “You had actually been training me to be the next guardian, but you, well you and the miraculous box vanish after me and my partner return the miraculous. Speaking of him, well things kinda went awry after me and my partner, Chat Noir, revealed our identities to each other. After a brief spat, I decided not to see him ever again, and continued my life, becoming fairly successful in my dream job. But…” She trails off, not knowing what to say.

She didn't know how to describe what she had felt. Was it unfulfillment? She had a job doing something she loved, yet it still wasn't enough. Loneliness? She never went out and made friends after her falling out with Alya, and subsequently the rest of her class. She had drifted away from her parents too.

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “But none of that matters. I came here to get my miraculous back.” She stated, conviction filling her eyes.

Master Fu looked like he wanted to object, but said nothing, instead he walks over to the record player he kept the miraculous, and opened it, before taking out the spotted earrings she had missed.

A soft smile spread across her lips, nostalgia and longing blooming in her heart. _What if Tikki doesn't know me?_ The doubt placed itself in her heart so firmly it was hard to shake off, but she needed to at least see the Kwami.

So she grabbed the earring, watching with hope and trepidation as a blur of red came out.

“Marinette!” Tikki cried out, nuzzling her head in the crook of Marinette’s neck. Marinette let out a watery laugh.

“Tikki,” Even though it was a whisper, the amount of emotions the word could carry was not few.

It made Fu feel like he was intruding on a very private moment. He cleared his throat, getting the attention of the other two.

“Perhaps you could explain how this came to be?” He asked, looking at Tikki.

“No, I cannot,” She replied, her voice terse. She smiled at Marinette affectionately, before turning to fully look at Master Fu.

“Tikki,” he said, with a tone that was reminiscent of one that would be used to scold a child, “if you know something I need to know. The balance must not be disrupted.”

The tufts on Tikki’s tail bristled, and she gave the man a scalding glare. (Marinette could never recall seeing the Kwami angry, let alone seething. Yet at the moment Tikki seemed to be angry beyond.)

Though Tikki’s didn't physically get any bigger, she seemed to take up the whole room, her eyes seemingly glowing.

“This is not a discussion we will be having,” She told him, though it seemed more like an order not to continue the conversation.

He had no choice but to listen, though he seemed heavily object.

“We will be leaving now,”

Tikki flew into Marinette’s purse, and while Marinette was confused, she asked no questions, and walked right out the door, not even sparing a glance at Fu.


End file.
